Sensex rebounds 209 pts as GST Council freezes tax rates

Jeanne Townsend

The benchmark BSE index rose as much as 0.9 percent to a record high on Friday, scaling an all-time peak for the fourth time in five sessions, as consumer goods makers surged after the government finalised rates for its upcoming goods and services tax (GST). "Investors are gearing up for the start of the two day GST council meet from tomorrow for getting clarity on rates & products category", Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said in a note on Wednesday.

Minutes into trading, it was quoting at 30, 529.70 points, down by 129.07 points, or 0.42 per cent. SBI's standalone net profit, not including contributions from subsidiaries, jumped to Rs. 2,815 crore for the three months to March 31 from Rs. 1,264 crore a year earlier. Late Thursday, the state-owned lender announced a net profit of 1.55 billion rupees ($24 million) for the quarter ended Mar.31 against a loss of 32.3 billion rupees a year earlier. The BSE IT index was down 0.82 per cent; TS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Hexaware and Tanla Solutions were among the losers. On BSE, the ITC counter has clocked a volume of almost 1.96 million shares so far in the session, more than 3 times the average daily volume the counter had witnessed in the past two weeks.

Coal India rallied 2.62 per cent, followed by NTPC and PowerGrid. The Nifty futures traded on Singapore Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty (Singapore Nifty) was up 0.24 per cent or 23 points at 9,457. Stock market analysts said this is likely to be a major trigger for markets today.

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